AUGUST CIVIL AFFAIRS
Mission Accomplished
The United States have finally started pulling its troops out of Iraq. President Barack Obama has confirmed that the US plans to withdraw significant number of combat troops from Iraq stating that the war was nearing an end. The remaining force of 50,000 soldiers will train Iraqi security forces and provide security for ongoing US Diplomatic efforts.
Australia with a hung parliament
Australians failed to elect a new government in the polls held in August and were left with a hung parliament (Julia Gillard’s Labor and Abbott’s Liberal party led to the first hung parliament in Australia since World War II). Julia Gillard becomes Australia's first female and 27th prime minister prime minister.
Pakistani cricketers tainted
The Game of cricket gets murkier with alleged match-fixer Mazhar Majeed’s claim of having rigged games played by Pakistan for three years. The British Police recovered cash from hotel rooms of Pakistani players involved in spot fixing. Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammed Asif were interviewed and their mobiles confiscated after Majeed’s confession. The Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC will probe all 82 international matches played by Pakistan during this time. The news came as a bolt for the flood-stricken and violence-plagued country where cricket is the national sport.
Pakistan Floods
Annual monsoons rains have led to flooding in Pakistan leading to the death of 1500 people and rendering thousands homeless. In the worst flooding disaster in 80 years the floodwaters have affected about one-fifth of the country washing away millions of hectares of crops, submerging villages and destroying roads, bridges, schools, electricity and communication setting back the infrastructure by many years. Disease is fast spreading in these flood affected areas and there have been warnings that dams in the south may burst. It is estimated that the floods in Pakistan have displaced people thrice the number displaced during partition. India offered to give 50 lakh dollar to Pakistan.
KARAR -Bomber plane of Iran
Hike in Visa fee
The Obama Regime has raised H-1B and L1 visa fees to protect its borders from illegal Mexican immigrants. This additional fee would be used to build operating bases and deploy unmanned aerial surveillance to beef up U.S.-Mexico border security. The impact of this hike will be substantial on Indian IT companies that account for approximately 50,000 H1 and L1 visas per year.
Mosque near ground Zero
A New York city panel has cleared the way for the construction of a mosque near ground zero that has been causing a political uproar over religious freedom. The proposed construction of the mosque near ground zero has sparked debate all around the country. President Barack Obama, however, supported the right of having a mosque by asserting that Muslims have the same right to freedom of religion as everyone else in America.
China to launch space station
Having finished the first module of a planned space station and testing its electronics and other systems China is all set to launch it into orbit next year. Changes were being made to the rocket that will carry the 8.5ton Tiangong 1 module into a set orbit. No finishing or manning dates have been given for the space station. The official Xinhua news agency said that The Shenzhou 8 spacecraft and Shenzhou 9 and 10 spacecraft would dock with it in the second half of 2011 and 2012 respectively.
SinoSat-6
China successfully launched its "SinoSat-6" satellite for live radio and television broadcast from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The satellite was carried on the Long March 3B rocket which took the SinoSat-6 into a geostationary transfer orbit 26 minutes after the launch.
Online route
Oxford English Dictionary that has been in print for over a century may never appear in print for the future generations. The word reference Bible is likely to loose its existence to its online version. With the digital books becoming popular, the format that the 3rd edition, currently being worked upon, will take is anybody’s guess.
India-Bangladesh-Bhutan-Nepal
A new bill is going to pass about the open travel between these 4 countries
Flood in Beijing). 720 dead
National Current Affairs
Nuclear liability bill passed
Nuclear liability bill which was adopted by Rajya Sabha has now been approved by the process of Voice vote. The session of the Parliament lasted 48 hours extra than the scheduled time so that the legislation can be easily passed and approved. A total of 18 amendments were introduced in this bill by Lok Sabha before processing it further. Soon the bill was selected for a considerable hike in the liability of operator. This liability has now become 3 times then what it was in the past and now holds a value of rupees 1500 crore’s in total. By virtue of progression of this bill and significant increase in the liability many overseas companies have shown their interests in setting up reactors in India. Special accidental care will now be provided for the employees operating in the various sections of the nuclear plants. The decision and the passing of the bill had been strongly opposed by the BJP leaders as they found it insignificant.
PTA [ Press Trust of India ]
Chairman - Vineeth Jain (Times of India Group MD )
Vice Chairman - P Verrendra Kumar ( Mathrubhumi chairman & MD)
Swiss Bank Access
Swiss Authorities will provide information to India on cases of tax fraud and tax evasion from January 1,2011under the reworked double tax agreement (DTA) signed by India and Switzerland. The Indian Authorities can now seek information about the account holders in Swiss banks who have a case filed against them for tax evasion.
Agriculture Strike in UP
Farmers did strike against the acquiring of land for the Yamuna Express route since they are not paid well for their agricultural lands.
Government Intervention for CWG
PM and his select team of ministers takeover as CWG supervisors. Indian Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh took over the reigns of the forthcoming games in the wake of scandals and unfinished work surrounding the event. Committee of Secretaries, headed by a Cabinet Secretary, will now supervise the mega event to be held in October overtaking Organizing Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi.
Bhopal Case reopened
The Supreme court of India has reopened the Bhopal Gas leak case in response to Government’s petition for harsher punishment to the guilty for the worst tragedy of its kind in which at least 7,000 people perished within days of the release of the toxic methyl isocyanate gas at the Union Carbide pesticide plant on 3 December 1984, and a further 15,000 died later from exposure to the gas. The tragedy left countless others with lifelong damage to their health.
Green Action for National Dandi Heritage Initiative(GANDHI) project
Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh launched the Green Action for National Dandi Heritage Initiative(GANDHI) project in the historic coastal village in south Gujarat. It was at Dandi that Mahatma Gandhi launched his salt Satyagraha 80 years ago.
CSAT to replace the civil services prelims
The new Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) will replace the existing civil services (preliminary) examination from 2011. The new scheme will test the candidates for their aptitude for civil services as well as their ethical and moral dimension of decision-making. There will now be two common papers with equal weightage in place of one common paper (general awareness) and one optional paper (any particular subject of choice). The civil services main exam and the interview will remain the same as of now.
Rahul creates controversy
Wherein one place Mamta Banerjee is speaking in the favour of naxals and now Rahul Gandhi is sharing a dias with a suspected Maoist , this is the approach of the government in the fight against naxals.
Member Parliament salaries hiked
Parliament recently in Delhi has made a decision to increase the salaries of MPs. A hike of about rupees 35000 will be introduced in the salary of each MPs thus taking it from figures like 20,000 to 55,000 or so. Because daily allowance has an important role to play hence parliament has also decided to exactly double the allowances issued daily to each Member of Parliament. Hence daily allowance of rupees 1000 will now become 2000. This daily allowance will be issued only when the parliament session is in progress. Other than the daily allowances the official expenses for every office per month have now been considerably raised and touch a 50,000 amount. That is not all the travel and conveyance charge issued will now become 4 times which were earlier around rupees 1,00,000. Retired members will now get a monthly pension of around rupees 20,000 which was around 10,000 in the past times.
Harishankar Brahma - Election Commissioner
Commonwealth with less green
Approximately 40,000 trees have been either felled or transplanted for Delhi’s preparation of Commonwealth Games 2010. Apart from the financial burden of creating world class infrastructure and transport facilities Delhites have to bear the loss of its green cover as the compensatory plantation cannot in any way compensate for the loss of a fully grown, mature tree.
Blackberry controversy
Research in Motion (RIM), the maker of Blackberry has finally surrendered to Indian security agencies’ demand for access to their server. The company has proposed for lawful access to its services including the messenger as well as the enterprise with immediate effect and the company would have to set up a server in India if it does not work to the satisfaction of Indian agencies. The security agencies already had access to voice data, SMS and general emails sent through Blackberry devices but Blackberry email and messaging services that are highly encrypted were major concerns for the security agencies. With this understanding in place the government has decided to serve notices to Google and Skype also to fall in line.
Direct tax code
The Government deferred the direct tax code(DTC) by yet another year to April 2012 causing yet another disappointment to the taxpayers. Women taxpayers suffered a bolt as the preferential treatment meted out to them earlier is now proposed to be withdrawn. Senior citizens, however, enjoy a higher exemption limit. The bill that replaces the Income Tax Act 1961 seeks an increase in exemption threshold of individuals from Rs.1.6 lakh currently to Rs.2lakh. The corporate taxes will be reduced to a flat 30%.
Leh hit by flood
A cloudburst on the intervening night of August 5 and 6 has led to flash floods and mudslides in the Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir. The cloudburst and the following floods have claimed over 175 lives and injured about 400 people, besides causing widespread damage to public and private property. The worst hit Chuglamsar has just turned into debris all over.
More rich than poor Indians
National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has estimated in its report, "How India Earns, Spends and Saves", that despite the economic slowdown of the last three years, the number of high-income households in India has exceeded the number of low-income households. Households with high income or earnings have grown by over 3.7% in total and now touch the mark of around 21%. That is not all also the households with low income sources have fallen by around 3.2% and gone down to a mark of 18%.
CWG Anthem
When everything is being prepared for the common wealth coming up in October then how could Music maestro A R Rahman stay away from it. Yes, the musician has launched the theme song for the Commonwealth Games 2010 that has the best lyrics covering khelo oh yaaro,,jeeto oh yaaro. During the launch of this theme song honorable Chief Minister Shiela Dixit, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and OC Chairman Suresh Kalmadi were present in the ceremony.
CWG breeding mosquitoes
The fingers are already crossed and people fear further delay in the common wealth problems. When the earlier hurdles are not getting removed and new problems are coming into view. The sincere attention is being drawn by the mosquitoes breeding in various dumps. Because of heavy rainfall in the country water is collected in almost every venue and mosquitoes have converted these venues into their favorite breeding places and are increasing the fear of dengue disease.
Newdelhi- Metallo-Beta-Lactemess [NDM-1]
It is a new bacteria in an enzyme form. It is suppose to be aroused from Newdelhi. It is spreading worldwide. It is able to defend all the antibiotic available today.
Yet another marine disaster
A foreign cargo ship MV Khalijia-111 which collided with MSC Chitra which was carrying about 1,200 containers with over 266 tonnes of fuel about 10 km off Mumbai harbour has spilled oil into the Mumbai seas. The collision tilted MSC Chitra vessel causing 300 containers carrying oil to tumble into the Mumbai waters creating a thick oil slick two to three kms around the vessel Chitra causing a serious threat to the marine life.
India’s Independence
August 15th, 2010 India celebrated the 63rd anniversary of its independence.
IBM Number two employer
IBM is the second largest private sector employer in India after TCS . The
company has more than one lakh people on its rolls.
Rajiv Sha ( Indian ) named US Aid head.
Loharinag Pala
Dr. Man Mohan Singh rejected the dam project “Loharing Pala“(600 MW plan) in Bhaghirathy river ( Ganga), Uttarkhand.
Vishanathan Anand declined Doctorate
Vishanathan Anand declined Honorary doctorate from Hyderabad university since MHRD argued about his citizenship. Now Anand is staying at Spain . MHRD minister, Kapil Sibil apologies to Anand.
Kapil Sibil – MHRD minister, visits china
Kapil Sibil – MHRD minister, visited china ( one week) in order to participate in world economic forum @ “Tiyan Jinil” ( Sep 13-15 )
Income Tax
Upto 2 lakhs – No tax ( Earlier , it was upto 1.6 lakhs )
The taxless limit for Senior Citizen extended upto 2.5 lakhs.
Rubber Import tax fixed to 20.46 Rs/ Kg.
Earlier , it was 7.5% (dropped fom 20%) of the prize . Govt withdawn this and fixed the rate to 20.46 Rs/ Kg. It will be stable at 20.46 ras, whatever the prize of rubber may be.
Ø Raj Sabha passed “Pravasi Bill”
Ø Mukesh Ambani in World Ecnomic Forum Foundation Board
Ø India released “Mother Theresa”
Sehwag denied century
A deliberate no ball by the Srilankan off-spinner Suraj Randiv to prevent Virendar Sehwag from completing his century in the tri-series has left a bad taste in the mouth for all cricket lovers. Indians were just short of 5 runs from destination called victory and the opening batsman VEERU was just a run away from his ton. At the same time Lankan skipper chose spinner S. Randiv to come in and bowl. On the third bowl of his spell Virender Sehwag sent the bowl out of the fence with a huge six but the turning point was that it was a no ball which defended Virender Sehwag from completing his century. As per the declaration of the match referee it was been found out that it was an intentional attempt.
Italian Super Cup. Intermilan beat A S Roma
Shooting Gold
Tejaswini Sawant created history by becoming India’s first female shooter to clinch gold at the World Shooting Championship held in Munich, Germany. The 29-year-old, who shot a score of 597/600 , equaling the world record in the process, won the 50m rifle prone event.
Sri Lanka wins the tri series
The host Sri Lanka’ eight wicket victory over India in Dambulla represents its 25th win in a tournament final. Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara'who won the toss decided to bat against India in the tri-series final. The Sri Lankans won the match by 74 runs in this game. With this it became the second team to win a tournament final on 25 occasions. Australia has won 52 tournament finals.
First Indian US PGA Tour winner
Arjun Atwal has become the first Indian Golfer to win the US PGA tour. Atwal, who started playing at the age of fourteen, became one of the leading players on the Asian Tour and the European tour. He is the the first native East Indian golfer to become a member of, and later win the U.S. PGA Tour.
Toronto Masters Tennis Cup [ Rogers Cup 2010]
· Andy Mare beat Rojer Federar
50th National Interstate Athlete Meet @ Patyala
Overall Champian - Kerala
Women - Kerala Men - Haryana
National record for “Mayookha Jhoni”
National record for “Mayookha Jhoni” in triple jump (13.68). She beated the record of Anju Boby George (13.68).
2nd Asia Cup Volleyball @ Tehran
Iran - First (India - Third)
In 64th Santhosphy Trophy, West Bengal beat Punjab
Tyson Gay beat Bolt
Tyson Gay beat Bolt in 100 m race in thr Diamond lesgue Atheletics held at
Stockholm, Sweden
In Spanish Super Cup, Barsalona beat Sevia (5-3). Hatrik for Messy (Barsalona )
David Lekoota Rudisha –world record in 800m race ( 1 min 41.09 sec.)
Michael Kirk Douglas diagnosed with throat cancer
Michael Kirk Douglas, winner of three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards, was diagnosed with throat cancer in August this year. He received the AFI (American Film Institute) Life Achievement Award in 2009. The 65-year-old actor, a heavy smoker, was informed of his condition labeled as Stage 4 cancer after his doctor's appointment for an extremely sore throat. Douglas who is to undergo chemotherapy and radiation is optimistic about his chances for recovery
Archie Panjabi
Recently 62nd Emmy awards were held and the best part was to hear about actress Archie Panjabi from the Indian-origin (Archana Kaur ) who has won the award for best supporting actress in the movie “The Good Wife”. Her performance has been rated to be the best in the international release recognized as “Bend it like Beckham”. Many others were nominated for the same designation but because the best performance deserves to be on the top hence the results proved it and Archie Panjabi took the award.
Anil Aggarwal to overtake Mukesh Ambani
It was Anil Aggarwal who laid the foundation of Vedanta Resources Corporation, a UK based corporation and all by the virtue of it that he has been designated as the non-resident Indian billionaire. By this effort he has become the largest promoter of a corporate house thus overtaking Mukesh Ambani.
Vedantha Resouces
Vedantha Resouces (mining company) has been denied the right to mine from Niyamgiri Hills, Orissa. Niyamgiri Hills region is supposed to be threatened by bauxite mining by Vedanta.
Pallava Bagla
Pallava Bagla from India has won the David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism by American Geophysical Union (AGU). Pallav won this award for his articles on the impact of change in climate on the Himalayan glaciers. Bagla is an author and freelancer for BBC and the likes. His latest book is "Destination Moon: India's Quest for Moon, Mars and beyond".
Radhika Plakkat - got the award for best teacher in America.
Panakkad Sayid Mohammed Thangal
Postal Department made stamp in memmories of Panakkad Sayid Mohammed Thangal
Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy
The postal department released a stamp(of Rs.5) in Visakhapatnam to commemorate the first death anniversary of the former chief minister late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.
KM Mathew passed away
Malayalamanorama Chief Editor KM Mathew passed away (93). He got Padmabhooshan in 1998. His autobiography is “Ettamathe mothiram”. He wrote “Annamma” in memmories of his wife. Kandathil Vargheese Mappila started M Manorama in 1888. Maaman Mathew- New Chief Editor , Malayala Manorama
R K Medhekar
Senior IPS officer R K Medhekar will be the new Director General of elite commando force -- National Security Guard. Medhekar, a 1975 batch officer of Kerala cadre, currently serving as Special Director General of Border Security Force. He will take over from 1972 batch IPS officer N P S Aulakh.
Justice K Balakrishnan Nair elected as Chairman of State Administrative Tribunal, Kerala.
P D Dinakaran take charge as Sikkim Chief Justice. (He was accused for bribary in
the state of Karnataka.)
Jayaram Ramesh in UN High Commision (Unnatha Samathi )
GK Pillai - Home Secretary will visit kerala on September 7 to check the security
in Kerala.
Shark Rogay – International Olympic Committe President.
Real Admiral Sudharshan Srekanthe - elected as Chief of Staff, Southern Navy.
| KERALA | Chief Information Commissioner | Palatt Mohan Das |
| Information Commissioners | M N Gunavardhan | |
| Sony B Thenghamav |
Aabi Lincon (Newyork ) – Jazz singer passed away (80)
Awards
Kendra Sahithya Acadamy Awards 2010
| Khushwanth Singh | Kendhra Sahithya Acadamy Fellowship | |
| Kedhar Nath Singh | ||
| Chandhranath Mishra | ||
| C P Pallipuram | He got " Bala Sahithya Puraskaram " for his book "Kunjunni" | |
| Major Leysrem Jyothin Singh (Doctor) | Got Ashoka Chakra |
| Posthumus | |
| He saved life of 10 collegues' life armlessly in Kabul | |
| Wilson A Raul | Got Vishishta Seva Medal |
| Kerala ADGP |
| OSCAR 2010 | Francis Ford Koppal (Hollywood Director) | Oscar for Complete Contribution |
| Shawn Luck Godard ( French Director) | ( Samaghra Sambhavana ) | |
| Ele Valach (Hollywood Actor) | | |
| Kevin Brawn Law (Film Historian ) | Oscar for life time contributions |
Miss Universe 2010 – Jimena Navarethe (Miss Mexico )
2010 Miss Kerala – Indhu Thampi
2010 Rajiv Gandhi Sambhavan Award – Vahiyudheen Khan.
World Breast Feeding Week AUG 1 – AUG 7
August 3 – International Friendship Day
August 6 – Hiroshima day
August 8 – World Senior Citizen day
August 9 – Quit India day/ Nagasaki day
August 12 - International Youth day
August 14 – Pakistan Independance day
August 19 – World Photography day
August 29- Sports day
0 comments:
Post a Comment